in
many essentials from the drawing of the patent, which, of course,
corresponded with the model there filed. It has neither divider nor
outer wheel, and the construction of the platform differs from that of
his regular machine. It is thought that the picture represents the small
working model made at the Chenoweth factory, mentioned by the little
girl.

[Sidenote: Financing the First Reaper]

Mr. Hussey found one who took an interest in his invention and became so
confident of its value that he provided the necessary funds and
mechanical facilities for manufacturing a reaper to be tested in the
field. This was Jarvis Reynolds of Cincinnati. Drawings were made of
the cutting apparatus and a description of it was sent by the inventor
to a friend, Edwin G. Pratt, early in 1833.

[Sidenote: The Reaper Historian]

Another personal friend of Obed Hussey was Edward Stabler, who lived at
Sandy Hill, Maryland, and was, as he termed himself, "a farmer and a
mechanic." That he was a mechanic of ability is evidenced by government
seals which were cut by him, that for the Smithsonian Institute being
worthy of mention as an example of his skill. He was a postmaster from
President Jackson's time until his own death. He is the only one who may
be said to have acted as Hussey's historian, and has left very much
valuable information in the form of letters, legal papers, et cetera. In
1854 and '55 he published "A Brief Narrative of the Invention of Reaping
Machines," "Hussey's Reaping Machine in England," and "A Review of the
Pamphlet of W. N. P. Fitzgerald in Opposition to the Extension of the
Patent of Obed Hussey; and also of the Defense, of Evidence in Favor of
Said Extention," etc. There is sufficient data obtainable from Mr.
Stabler's various publications and material in the Congressional Library
to enable one to judge for himself whether the honors placed upon this
inventor by the Patent Office, the Courts, by Congress, and by the
farmer were earned.

It was at the time Mr. Hussey was residing in Baltimore that he turned
his attention to the idea of a reaping machine and spent his leisure
hours in working out his model. This satisfied him that the thing was
practical, and he undertook an operating machine, which, although
lightly made, was fully sufficient to test the great principle. At this
time he had no knowledge whether any others had undertaken anything in
this direction and there was nothing in his own mechanical occ